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Live Chats & City Commission Blogs

"That guy" who makes the editorial cartoons for the Sandusky Register has relesed another one:

Questions:

1. Does "that guy" think the panel would be a "dream team" because the fantasy commission would result in endless comic fodder for an editorial cartoonist?

2. Who is "Mr. Blogger" supposed to be?

Mr. Westend can't get to the commission meeting on time because of train traffic. Heh. That brings me to another question I have about the West End Grade Separation Project:

Below is a schematic of the proposed project which most people mistakenly believe will be an overpass similiar to the one over the RR tracks at Rt. 250:

As you can see, it's a pretty complicated way of solving traffic problems due to stopped trains at Rt. 101.

I would think that a simple overpass here:

...would solve the problem of slow moving trains blocking Venice Road. In reading the FAQ the city released on the project, I can surmise why this project is so "complicated" but it's not a good enough reason, IMO.

We'll be digging into this issue a little more since nobody seems to have any answers. Emails to the engineering department aren't being answered either.

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We're currently trying to push this idea of live chatting the city commission meetings. If you're unfamiliar, a live chat would be set up on the Sandusky Register right next to a livestream of the city commission meeting. Viewers would be able to watch the commission meetings in real time and chat about the meeting. The Register's web page would look something like this:

We were doing this on the old 411 site while we watched the replay of the meeting on Buckeye Cable - but the problem was the late night replay prevented people from staying up to chat. If the meetings were streamed live on the net, following local issues would be more popular because it would easier and the live chat could add an element of fun. (Of course moderation would be necessary to ensure that dialogue is constructive. We never had a problem with it on the old site though.)

I'm also pushing the idea of city commissioners starting their own personal blogs. Right off the bat there will be resistence because it's a new concept and since there are plenty of haters on the internet, why would anybody want to open themselves up to personal attacks? Easy fix. Disable the commenting system on your blog.

A personal blog can be used to share viewpoints, share agenda issues, debate ideas (if so desired) and to release statements. (Text can't be misquoted!) These personal blogs could be linked on the city commission page like this:

When necessary, the blog can be also be used to help prevent the spread of misinformation.

City commission meeting tomorrow night. I predict some comic relief from Mrs. Fuqua, I mean Mrs. Farrar, but that's all I can say at this point...hopefully somebody has their camera ready.